IBM Creates Solar Powered Submarines to Monitor the Hudson

We’ve seen all sorts of solar powered devices in our day. Some people are trying to implement them in cell phones. Others aim to have solar powered cars. This latest creation seems to inch closer to the latter, but it’s going much deeper and much wetter than that.

IBM has partnered up with a non-profit to create a fleet of solar-powered robotic underwater vehicles and this fleet will number in the hundreds. The idea is to use these paneled-out submarines — in tandem with sensor-rocking buoys — to study the level of pollution in the Hudson River. The yellow solar powered vehicles will measure temperature, pressure, and pH levels, among other things.

I understand that it has to be yellow to avoid collision with other ships, but you’ve got to wonder how effective those solar panels will be after some algae grows on there.